‘Star Trek Beyond’ Star John Cho Still Loves George Takei, Even If Takei Doesn’t Approve Of Making Sulu Gay

There’s been a lot of back and forth in the Star Trek world over the past few weeks concerning filmmakers’ decision to reveal in Star Trek Beyond that Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu is gay. John Cho, who plays Sulu in the rebooted big screen version of Trek, has said the move was a tribute to the original Sulu — and openly gay actor — George Takei. But Takei apparently didn’t approve of the gesture, since he thought it went against Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s wishes for the character. Takei later clarified that position, though, insisting he held no ill will toward the Beyond creative team for its inclusion of an LGBT person, just that he disagreed with the specific avenue filmmakers chose for that inclusion.

It appears now that there’s no bad blood on either side, and Cho has continued that narrative by doubling down on his admiration for Takei in a new interview. Speaking with Variety at the Beyond premiere at Comic-Con on Wednesday, Cho said he hadn’t yet personally talked with Takei about the dust-up, but that he planned on doing so soon.

“I’ve been meaning to reach out, but it’s been pretty bananas,” the actor told Variety. “There’s no hatchet to bury. I love him. That’s not going to change. And I hope he doesn’t think any less of me, even though he disagrees about the direction that we’ve taken in this movie.”

It’s heartening to hear Cho speak so highly of his predecessor, and it’s clear that the actor respects Takei’s opinions. Takei has yet to comment, however, on the recent revelation that a kiss between Sulu and his husband (played by Beyond co-screenwriter Doug Jung) was apparently cut from the film, an especially odd choice after so much thought was put into Sulu’s sexuality in the first place. We’ll see if Takei has anything to say on the subject after the movie opens this weekend.